Pernetti, Barchi also must go

Apr. 4, 2013

The Big Ten?s Jim Delany with Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti and president Robert Barchi. Jason Towlen/Staff Photographer
Piscataway, NJ - Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti and Rutgers University president Robert Barchi officially announce the university's move from the Big East Conference to the Big Ten during a press conference, Tuesday, November 20, 2012, at the Hale Center in Piscataway. / Jason Towlen/Staff Photographer

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Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice was fired Wednesday. Finally.

Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti and President Robert L. Barchi should be next.

How on earth could they have looked the other way for all these months? How could Pernetti, Barchi and any members of the university’s Board of Governors who had viewed even a snippet of the videotape of Rice’s out-of-control verbal and physical tirades against his players back in November not have acted to get him fired on the spot?

The 40-minute compilation tape showing Rice shouting gay slurs, shoving his players and firing basketballs at their feet and heads was not just an ugly blemish on Rice. It was a huge black mark on Rutgers University. How could Pernetti and Barchi have allowed him to remain as coach? In announcing Rice’s firing on Wednesday, their failure to acknowledge any personal accountability for allowing him to stay on once the videotape came into their possession late last year was beyond contempt.

Did Rice go over the line? It wasn’t even a close call, at least not to the millions of appalled viewers who watched the videotape, first aired on ESPN Tuesday before quickly going viral. Somehow, Pernetti and Barchi had a different perspective. They actually saw fit to hire an independent investigator to review the practice videos and to interview the players. “We wanted unemotional people to review it and help us with this decision,” Pernetti said.

If they needed help sorting through that decision, they have no business making any other ones at Rutgers.

The same may be true for members of the Board of Governors, with whom Pernetti told reporters this week he and Barchi worked closely when the Rice issue came up in November. That is another matter that needs to be fully explored.

Is it true, as Pernetti maintained, that board members were involved in the discussions about how to handle Rice? What did its chairman, PSE&G CEO and chairman Ralph Izzo, know? What other board members were involved in the discussions? Did they sign off on the decision to retain Rice, and why? Were they hoping the videotape would never see the light of day? Were they afraid that firing Rice would have created even more negative publicity for the university, coming so closely on the heels of the Tyler Clementi suicide and aftermath?

In Barchi’s statement Wednesday announcing Rice’s release, he said, “I have now reached the conclusion that Coach Rice cannot continue to serve effectively in a position that demands the highest levels of leadership, responsibility and public accountability.”

Judged by that same standard, Barchi and Pernetti have no business continuing in their roles at Rutgers. If they don’t resign, the Board of Governors should fire them. Then the board should reorganize with a new chairman.